Guess where our favorite snack tempura comes from

You find Portuguese dishes all over the world

Vindaloo from Goa, debal from Malaysia, feijoada from Brazil are only few of the dishes the Portuguese left behind after their visits centuries ago.

BBC just brought the history of one of them.

The truth about the Japanese Tempura

When 16th-Century Portuguese came to Japan, they brought a special dish with them. Today, in Japan, it’s called tempura and has been a staple of the country’s cuisine ever since.

A Japanese-born sous chef at Avillez’s two-Michelin-starred Lisbon restaurant, Belcanto chose to train in Portugal instead of France when he realized that his home cousin is inspired by the Portuguese kitchen – particularly in peixinhos da horta.

“The Japanese inherited the dish from us and they made it better.

Japanese people sometimes turn up at his restaurants and see the fried bean dish and say: “Hey, Portuguese cuisine is influenced by Japanese cuisine” He added,

That’s when I say: “No, in this case it’s the other way around”

Jose Avillez to BBC Travel – read the story about the origin of the Japanese dish here.